Eddie Alvarez's motion denied, will not fight at UFC 159

A federal judge today denied a motion to release the fighter from his Bellator contract to sign with UFC parent Zuffa, according to the New York-based MMA legal blog The Fight Lawyer.

New Jersey District Court judge Jose L. Linares ruled Alvarez didn’t prove he would be irreparably harmed by not signing the deal.

Alvarez, who this past week countered a breach of contract suit filed by Bellator, hoped to demonstrate the promotion did not match an offer from Zuffa and that he was being irreparably harmed by not being allowed to sign the deal.

The fighter asked Linares to issue an injunction against Bellator and declare him free to sign with Zuffa.

Alvarez’s lawyers argued there is key difference between Bellator’s promise to put Alvarez on Spike as opposed to Zuffa’s to put him on FOX, and the two aren’t equal.

But Linares stated that using a common-sense interpretation of the word, Bellator did match by replicating the industry-leader’s contract and substituting its name for Zuffa’s.

“If, as Alvarez claims, Bellator’s substituting its name for that of Zuffa amounts to a failure to match, Bellator would never be able to match the terms of any contract, and thus its right of first refusal would amount to no right at all,” Linares wrote. “It is speculative to suggest, as Alvarez does, that an inability to compete in the April 27 event will result in irreparable harm in the form of a lost opportunity to obtain notoriety, endorsements, and a wider exposure to viewers,” Linares wrote.

“Alvarez’s argument requires this court to make speculative assumptions about what might or might not happen as a result of his participation in the April 27 event. Based on the record before it, the court cannot make such assumptions.”

While the judge admitted that Alvarez might prevail in court when arguing a key difference between FOX and Spike, he stated the court could not make that decision based on the evidence presented. Because the fighter didn’t immediately demonstrate his suit would succeed, his injunction was denied.

Alvarez’s contract with Bellator expired this past October, after which he was bound to negotiate exclusively with the promotion for 90 days. However, the promotion waived the period so he could receive an offer from Zuffa. But when Bellator issued a matching offer, he declined to sign the deal.

This past month, Bellator sued Alvarez for breach of contract and five unnamed parties of tortious interference. After filing a countersuit in state court, Alvarez answered Bellator’s claim this past week.

Included in the counterclaim was a letter from Zuffa confirming an offer for Alvarez to fight at UFC 159, which takes place April 27 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The Philadelphia-based fighter was last seen inside the cage at Bellator 76, when he knocked out Patricky “Pitbull” Freire in the final fight of his contract.

On Thursday, UFC President Dana White was asked for his feelings on the ongoing litigation.

“I hope it works out for him,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “This isn’t a kid who’s their world champion. This kid doesn’t have their title. His contract’s up. We’ll see what happens. Either him or his lawyer basically said, ‘The UFC and Bellator both want to take me to dinner. The UFC’s taking me to Morton’s, and Bellator’s taking me to McDonald’s.’ No two dinners are created equal. No two pay-per-views are created equal. These two fight companies aren’t created equal.

“But on the flip side, don’t forget this, either: Everybody talks about Bellator like they’re some poor little promotion. Viacom owns f—ing Bellator. Viacom runs that s—. Bellator sits on $5 billion in cash. Pay the kid the exact monetary offer we gave him, and you deserve the right to have him. We’re not talking about some poor little promotion, ‘Oh, poor little Bellator and the big, bad UFC.’ Viacom – we’re not sitting on $5 billion in cash (at the UFC). Pay the kid. Pay him.”

For more on the UFC and Bellator MMA’s upcoming schedules, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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